Printing only fields that contain info.

[Dave G.]

I am new to FM and am trying to create a custom form that will print ONLY the fields that have information in them and ignore any blank fields. Is this possible?

[LiveOak]

I'm not sure I understand the question. Are you really asking how to avoid printing "records" with no data OR "field names" for fields with no data OR how to eliminate the space on a printed form occupied by fields with no data? Give me an example of your layout, it may be that calculated field names and "sliding/printing" are what you need.

-bd

[Dave G.]

Ideally what I want to do is print only information that is in the completed fields and not print anything for those fields left empty. I'm trying to replace a handwritten order sheet with one created in FM. It would allow for the selection of items in multiple fields but not all of them would necessarily be used at any time. The user would then print the completed form and have a printout that ONLY listed the selections from the fields. It does not even need to print the field name, just the information actually in the field. The user would complete the record and the printout would be used as the order list. Is this clearer? Thanks for your help.

Dave

[MeltDown]

quote:

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Originally posted by Dave G.:

It does not even need to print the field name, just the information actually in the field.

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Sounds like you could do this by adding a calculated field to your database, and putting the calc field on your print layout. If the value in the fields being 'selected' by the user contains the value you want to display, the calculation would be something like:

Calculation for values separated with a semi-colon, all in one row:

If(IsEmpty(Selection1),"", Selection1 & ";") & If(IsEmpty(Selection2),"", Selection2& "; ") & If(IsEmpty(Selection3),"", Selection3 & "; ")

To get a new paragraph for each choice, add the paragraph character after the semicolon.

If Selection 2 in the above example contained a code or was a 'yes/no' field, I might modify the code above to be:

If(IsEmpty(Selection1),"", Selection1 & ";") &

case(

IsEmpty(Selection2),"",

Selection2="33","Bird Brains; ",

Selection2="44","Baby Bees; ",

Selection2="55","Flowers; ",

Selection2& "; "))

& If(IsEmpty(Selection3),"", Selection3 & "; ")

Hope this helps!

[ June 24, 2001: Message edited by: MeltDown ]